How Happiness Can Be Contagious

Share a smile with one of these reader suggestions and launch a joy epidemic!

May 19, 2009

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Turns out there might be something scientific behind coming down with a case of the giggles. Research from Harvard Medical School has determined that happiness is emotionally contagious up to three degrees — meaning your good mood can spread not only to your friends but to their friends and their friends' friends, too. Share a smile with one of these reader suggestions and launch a joy epidemic!

I spread happiness by cooking a meal for friends. It makes me really happy to spend time catching up around a meal, and it's win-win: I love to do it, and they love to be treated for a night! — Katie Mattson, 27, Charlotte, NC

I have a basket of inspirational quotes I give to customers at my café. I've also installed a wheel of kindness, where patrons can spin to get a kindness assignment, like buying a brownie for someone who orders one later in the day. We only ask that the recipient someday come back to spin the wheel herself. — Lisa Cotter Metwaly, 45, St. Paul, MN

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